11.07.2014

Job Hunting Week, day five: Relaxing is not an option.

Welcome to Job Hunting Week. Looking for a job is my whole life at the moment, and looking for a job is so not fun. None of the content of this week will be revolutionary or even anything you haven’t thought of yourself, but I want to get it all out there in the open. Let’s commiserate together about the worst parts of job searching and what makes it so truly awful.

Day five: Relaxing is not an option.

I absolutely hate job hunting because it takes all my time.

It's a long list. This is not the full list.

I have a list of about 20 sites (and growing) that I check every day for jobs. It takes quite awhile, and if I miss a day for any reason, it takes about twice as long the next day. On top of that, I feel like I should be finding new sites to check and checking the website of pretty much every company that’s based in LA every day.

Because of this, I basically end up looking for jobs every time I’m at home and have my computer open. It’s exhausting! I’m already working about 35 hours a week at Old Navy and about 20 hours a week freelancing. But if I spend any time at home not either freelancing (or streaming) or looking for a job, I feel like I’m wasting my time. I’ve even felt guilty taking the time I needed to write these blog posts this week.

There are lots of reasons why I feel I have to be so vigilant about searching daily. First of all, you have to see a posting right away or you might miss out. The last interview I had was for a job that was posted on Oct. 20. I applied on Oct. 22 and got a call that day, then an interview the next day. (Yes, the interview was on my birthday. I didn’t get the job, but thanks for asking.) The interviews were only held on Oct. 23 and 24. If I hadn’t seen that job posting until the next day, I wouldn’t have gotten an interview. (Which obviously wouldn't have mattered since I didn't get it, but whatever.)

My sister sent me a job listing at a company she has some connections with and she emailed them on a Friday to recommend me and said I would be applying over the weekend. I applied that night, but the listing actually expired while I was in the online application, so when I hit submit, it gave me an error message. There hadn’t been an expiration date anywhere on the job description. And I had spent so much time on it because I was writing a whole new cover letter. Like, sorry for trying hard?

Basically, I would be super upset if that happened again, especially with a job I really wanted or really thought I was perfect for, which is why I’m looking for jobs pretty much every minute of every day.